Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T16:30:08.887Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Twelve - Archaeological Wool Textiles: A Window into Ancient Sheep Genetics?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2019

Serena Sabatini
Affiliation:
Göteborgs Universitet, Sweden
Sophie Bergerbrant
Affiliation:
Göteborgs Universitet, Sweden
Get access

Summary

This chapter provides an outline of the research history and current methodologies available for analysing ancient DNA (aDNA) from textiles.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Textile Revolution in Bronze Age Europe
Production, Specialisation, Consumption
, pp. 274 - 303
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allentoft, M. E. (2013) Recovering samples for ancient DNA research: guidelines for the field archaeologist, Antiquity (Project Gallery) 87 (338).Google Scholar
Allentoft, M. E., Collins, M., Harker, D., Haile, J., Oskam, C. L., Hale, M. L. et al. (2012) The half-life of DNA in bone: measuring the decay kinetics in 158 dated fossils, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Science 279(1748), 47244733.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Allentoft, M. E., Sikora, M., Sjögren, K.-G., Rasmussen, S., Rasmussen, M., Stenderup, J. et al. (2015) Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia, Nature 522 (7555), 167172.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Andersson Strand, E. (2012) The textile chaîne opératoire: using a multidisciplinary approach to textile archaeology with a focus on the ancient Near East, Paléorient 38, 2140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersson Strand, E. B., Frei, K. M., Gleba, M., Mannering, U., Nosch, M.-L. and Skals, I. (2010) Old textiles – new possibilities, European Journal of Archaeology 13, 149173.Google Scholar
Barber, E. J. W. (1991) Prehistoric Textiles, Princeton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barber, E. J. W. (1999) The Mummies of Ürümchi, New York.Google Scholar
Bellinger, L. (1962) Textiles from Gordion, Bulletin of the Needle and Bobbin Club 46(1), 534.Google Scholar
Bender Jørgensen, L. (1986) Forhistoriske Textiler i Skandinavien (Nordiske Fortidsminder Serie B 9), Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Bengtsson, C. F., Olsen, M. E., Brandt, L. Ø., Bertelsen, M. F., Willerslev, E., Tobin, D. J., Wilson, A. S. and Gilbert, M. T. P. (2012) DNA from keratinous tissue. Part I: Hair and nail, Annals of Anatomy, 1725.Google Scholar
Bichler, P., Grömer, K., Hofmann-de Keijzer, R., Kern, A. and Rescreiter, H. eds. (2005) Hallstatt Textiles: Technical Analysis, Scientific Investigation and Experiment on Iron Age Textiles (BAR International Series 1351), Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandt, G., Haak, W., Adler, C. A., Roth, C., Szécsényi-Nagy, A., Karimnia, S. et al. and The Genographic Consortium (2013) Ancient DNA reveals key stages in the formation of central European mitochondrial genetic diversity, Science 342, 257261.Google Scholar
Brandt, L. Ø. (2010) The survival of PCR-amplifiable DNA in sheep wool: a study evaluating the potentials for ancient DNA research in prehistoric Danish woollen textiles, unpublished Master’s thesis, University of Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Brandt, L. Ø. (2015) Species identification of skins and the development of sheep wool: an interdisciplinary study combining textile research, archaeology, and biomolecular methods, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Brandt, L. Ø., Tranekjer, L., Mannering, U., Ringgaard, M. G., Frei, K. M., Gleba, M. and Gilbert, M. T. P. (2011) Characterising the potential of sheep wool for ancient DNA analyses, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 3, 209221.Google Scholar
Brandt, L. Ø., Schmidt, A. L., Mannering, U., Kelstrup, C. D., Olsen, J. V., Sarret, M. and Cappellini, E. (2014) Species identification of archaeological skin objects from Danish bogs: comparison between mass spectrometry-based peptide sequencing and microscopy-based methods, PLOS ONE 9(9), e106875.Google Scholar
Breniquet, C. and Michel, C. eds. (2014) Wool Economy in the Ancient Near East and the Aegean: From the Beginnings of Sheep Husbandry to Institutional Textile Industry (Ancient textiles Series 17), Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breuning-Madsen, H., Holst, M. K. and Rasmussen, M. (2001) The chemical environment in a burial mound shortly after construction: an archaeological-pedological experiment, Journal of Archaeological Science 28, 691697.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breuning-Madsen, H., Holst, M. K., Rasmussen, M. and Elberling, B. (2003) Preservation within log coffins before and after barrow construction, Journal of Archaeological Science 30, 343350.Google Scholar
Briggs, A. W., Stenzel, U., Johnson, P. L. F., Green, R. E., Kelso, J., Prüfer, K. et al. (2007) Patterns of damage in genomic DNA sequences from a Neandertal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B 104, 1461614621.Google Scholar
Broholm, H. C. and Hald, M. (1940) Costumes of the Bronze Age in Denmark, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Brøns, C. (2017) Gods and Garments: Textiles in Greek Sanctuaries in the 7th to the 1st Centuries bc (Ancient textiles Series 28), Oxford.Google Scholar
Brøns, C. and Nosch, M.-L. (2017) Textiles and Cult in the Ancient Mediterranean (Ancient Textiles Series 31), Oxford.Google Scholar
Cai, D.-W., Han, L., Zhang, X.-L., Zhou, H. and Zhu, H. (2007) DNA analysis of archaeological sheep remains from China, Journal of Archaeological Science 34, 13471355.Google Scholar
Cai, D.-W., Tang, Z., Yu, H., Han, L., Ren, X., Zhao, X., Zhu, H. and Zhou, H. (2011) Early history of Chinese domestic sheep indicated by ancient DNA analysis of Bronze Age individuals, Journal of Archaeological Science 38, 896902.Google Scholar
Cardon, D. (2007) Natural Dyes: Sources, Tradition, Technology and Science, London.Google Scholar
Damgaard, P. B., Margaryan, A., Schroeder, H., Orlando, L., Willerslev, E. and Allentoft, M. E. (2015) Improving access to endogenous DNA in ancient bone and teeth, Scientific Reports 2015, 5.Google Scholar
Forrest, R. H., Itenge-Mweza, T. O., McKenzie, G. W., Zhou, M., Frampton, C. M. and Hickford, J. G. H. (2009) Polymorphism of the ovine b3-adrenergic receptor gene (ADRB3) and its association with wool mean staple strength and yield, Animal Genetics 40, 958962.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frei, K. M., Skals, I., Gleba, M. and Lyngstrøm, H. S. (2009) The Huldremose Iron Age textiles, Denmark: an attempt to define their provenance applying the strontium isotope system in wool, Journal of Archaeological Science 36, 19651971.Google Scholar
Frei, K. M., Mannering, U., Kristiansen, K., Allentoft, M. E., Wilson, A. S., Skals, I. et al. (2015) Tracing the dynamic life story of a Bronze Age female, Scientific Reports 5, 10431.Google Scholar
Gamba, C., Jones, E. R., Teasdale, M. D., McLaughlin, R. L., Gonzalez-Fortes, G., Mattiangeli, V. et al. (2014) Genome flux and stasis in a five millennium transect of European prehistory, Nature Communications 5, 5257.Google Scholar
Gilbert, M. T. P., Tomsho, L. P., Rendulic, S., Packard, M., Drautz, D. I., Sher, A. et al. (2007) Whole-genome shotgun sequencing of mitochondria from ancient hair shafts, Science 317, 19271930.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gilbert, M. T. P., Wilson, A. S., Bunce, M., Hansen, A. J., Willerslev, E., Shapiro, B. et al. (2004) Ancient mitochondrial DNA from hair, Current Biology 14, R463R464.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ginolhac, A., Rasmussen, M., Gilbert, M. T. P., Willerslev, E. and Orlando, L. (2011) mapDamage: testing for damage patterns in ancient DNA sequences, Bioinformatics 27(15), 21532155.Google Scholar
Gleba, M. (2012) From textiles to sheep: investigating wool fibre development in pre-Roman Italy using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Journal of Archaeological Science 39, 36433661.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gong, H., Zhou, H. and Hickford, J. G. H. (2011) Diversity of the glycine/tyrosine-rich keratin-associated protein 6 gene (KAP6) family in sheep, Molecular Biology Reports 38, 3135.Google Scholar
Gong, H., Zhou, H., Plowman, J. E., Dyer, J. M. and Hickford, J. G. H. (2010) Analysis of variation in the ovine ultra-high sulphur keratin-associated protein KAP5-4 gene using PCR-SSCP technique, Electrophoresis 31, 35453547.Google Scholar
Green, M. W. (1980) Animal husbandry at Uruk in the Archaic period, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 39, 135.Google Scholar
Guo, J., Du, L.-X., Ma, Y.-H., Guan, W.-J., Li, H.-B., Zhao, Q.-J., Li, X. and Rao, S.-Q. (2005) A novel maternal lineage revealed in sheep (Ovis aries), Animal Genetics 36, 331336.Google Scholar
Haile, J., Froese, D. G., MacPhee, R. D. E., Roberts, R. G., Arnold, L. J., Reyes, A. V. et al. (2009) Ancient DNA reveals late survival of mammoth and horse in interior Alaska, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 106, 2235222357.Google Scholar
Hald, M. (1980) Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs and Burials, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Hansen, H. B., Damgaard, P. B., Margaryan, A., Stenderup, J., Lynnerup, N., Willerslev, E. and Allentoft, M. E. (2017) Comparing ancient DNA preservation in petrous bone and tooth cementum, PLOS ONE 12(1), e0170940.Google Scholar
Harlow, M. (2012) Dress and Identity, Oxford.Google Scholar
Hatting, T. (1991) The archaeozoology, in Ribe Excavations, 1970–76, Volume III, ed. Bender Jørgensen, L., Bencard, M., and Brinch Madsen, H., Esbjerg, 4358.Google Scholar
Hausman, L. A. (1920) Structural characteristics of the hair of mammals, American Naturalist 54, 96523.Google Scholar
Hiendleder, S., Kaupe, B., Wassmuth, R. and Janke, A. (2002) Molecular analysis of wild and domestic sheep questions current nomenclature and provides evidence for domestication from two different subspecies, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, 269, 893904.Google Scholar
Hiendleder, S., Mainz, K., Plante, Y. and Lewalski, H. (1998) Analysis of mitochondrial DNA indicates that domestic sheep are derived from two different ancestral maternal sources: no evidence for contributions from Urial and Argali sheep, Journal of Heredity 89, 113120.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Horsburgh, K. A. and Rhines, A. (2010) Genetic characterization of an archaeological sheep assemblage from South Africa’s Western Cape, Journal of Archaeological Science 37, 29062910.Google Scholar
Hughes, M. A., Jones, D. S. and Connolly, R. C. (1986) Body in the bog but no DNA, Nature 323, 208.Google Scholar
Itenge-Mweza, T. O., Forrest, R. H. J., McKenzie, G. W., Hogan, A., Abbott, B., Amoafo, O. and Hickford, J. G. H. (2007) Polymorphism of the kap1.1, kap1.3 and k33 genes in Merino sheep, Molecular and Cellular Probes 21, 338342.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kijas, J. W., Lenstra, J. A., Hayes, B., Boitard, S., Porto Neto, L. R., Cristobal, M. S. et al. (2009) A genome wide survey of SNP variation reveals the genetic structure of sheep breeds, PLOS ONE 4(3), e4668.Google Scholar
Kijas, J. W., Lenstra, J. A., Hayes, B., Boitard, S., Porto Neto, L. R., Cristobal, M. S. et al. (2012) Genome-wide analysis of the world’s sheep breeds reveals high levels of historic mixture and strong recent selection, PLOS Biology 10(2), e1001258.Google Scholar
Lindahl, T. (1993) Instability and decay of the primary structure of DNA, Nature 362, 709715.Google Scholar
Lindahl, T. and Nyberg, B. (1972) Rate of depurination of native deoxyribonucleic acid, Biochemistry 12, 51515154.Google Scholar
Luniak, B. (1953) The Identification of Textile Fibres: Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Fibre Blends, London.Google Scholar
Mathiassen, T. E., Nosch, M.-L., Ringgaard, M., Toftegaard, K. and Venborg Pederson, M. eds. (2014) Fashionable Encounters: Perspectives and Trends in Textile and Dress in the Early Modern Nordic World (Ancient Textiles Series 14), Oxford.Google Scholar
Meadows, J. R. S., Li, K., Tapio, M., Sipos, W., Pardeshi, V., Gupta, V. et al. (2005) Mitochondrial sequence reveals high levels of gene flow between breeds of domestic sheep from Asia and Europe, Journal of Heredity 96, 494501.Google Scholar
Meadows, J. R. S., Cemal, I., Karaca, O., Gootwine, E. and Kijas, J. W. (2007) Five ovine mitochondrial lineages identified from sheep breeds of the Near East, Genetics 175, 13711379.Google Scholar
Meadows, J. R. S., Hiendleder, S. and Kijas, J. W. (2011) Haplogroup relationships between domestic and wild sheep resolved using a mitogenome panel, Heredity 106, 700706.Google Scholar
Metzker, M. L. (2010) Sequencing technologies: the next generation, Nature Reviews Genetics 2010, 3146.Google Scholar
Möller-Wiering, S. (2010) War and Worship, Oxford.Google Scholar
Niemi, M., Bläuer, A., Iso-Touru, T., Nyström, V., Harjula, J., Taavitsainen, J.-P. et al. (2013) Mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosomal diversity in ancient populations of domestic sheep (Ovis aries) in Finland: comparison with contemporary sheep breeds, Genetics Selection Evolution 45: 2.Google Scholar
Nikulina, E. (2016) Hair, bone plates and coprolites: ancient DNA research on rare archaeological materials, Archaeologia Baltica 23, 3844.Google Scholar
Olivieri, C., Ermini, L., Rizzi, E., Corti, G., Luciani, S., Marota, I. et al. (2012) Phylogenetic position of a Copper Age sheep (Ovis aries) mitochondrial DNA, PLOS ONE 7(3), e33792.Google Scholar
Orlando, L., Ginolhac, A., Raghavan, M., Vilstrup, J., Rasmussen, M., Magnussen, K. et al. (2011) True single-molecule DNA sequencing of a pleistocene horse bone, Genome Research, 17051719.Google Scholar
Orlando, L., Ginolhac, A., Zhang, G., Froese, D., Albrechtsen, A., Stiller, M. et al. (2013) Recalibrating Equus evolution using the genome sequence of an early Middle Pleistocene horse, Nature 499, 7478.Google Scholar
Østergård, E. (1991) Textilfragmenterne fra Mammengraven, in MAMMEN. Grav, kunst og samfund i vikingetid, ed. Iversen, M., Højbjerg, 123138.Google Scholar
Østergård, E. (2004) Woven into the Earth: Textiles from Norse Greenland, Aarhus.Google Scholar
O’Sullivan, N. J., Teasdale, M. D, Mattiangeli, V., Maixner, F., Pinhasi, R., Bradley, D. G. and Zink, A. (2016) A whole mitochondria analysis of the Tyrolean Iceman’s leather provides insights into the animal sources of Copper Age clothing, Scientific Reports 6, 31279.Google Scholar
Pedrosa, S., Uzun, M., Arranz, J.-J., Guetiérrez-Gil, B., San Primitivo, F. and Bayón, Y. (2005) Evidence of three maternal lineages in Near Eastern sheep supporting multiple domestication events, Proceedings of the Royal Society B 272, 22112217.Google Scholar
Pereira, F., Davis, S. J. M., Pereira, L., McEvoy, B., Bradley, D. G. and Amorim, A. (2006) Genetic signatures of a Mediterranean influence in Iberian peninsula sheep husbandry, Molecular Biology and Evolution 23, 14201426.Google Scholar
Pinhasi, R., Fernandes, D., Sirak, K., Novak, M., Connell, S., Alpaslan-Roodenberg, S. et al. (2015) Optimal ancient DNA yields from the inner ear part of the human petrous bone, PLOS ONE 10(6), e0129102.Google Scholar
Pruvost, M., Schwars, R., Correia, V. B., Champlot, S., Braguier, S., Morel, N. et al. (2007) Freshly excavated fossil bones are best for amplification of ancient DNA, Proceeding of the National Academy of Science 104(3), 739744.Google Scholar
Rannamäe, E., Lougas, L., Niemi, M., Kantanen, J., Maldre, L., Kadorova, N. and Saarma, U. (2016) Maternal and paternal genetic diversity of ancient sheep in Estonia from the Late Bronze Age to the post-medieval period and comparison with other regions in Eurasia, Animal Genetics 47, 208218.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, M., Li, Y., Lindgreen, S., Pedersen, J. S., Albrechtsen, A., Moltke, I. et al. (2010) Ancient human genome sequence of an extinct Palaeo-Eskimo, Nature 463, 757762.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rasmussen, M., Guo, X., Wang, Y., Lohmueller, K. E., Rasmussen, S., Albrechtsen, A. et al. (2011) An Aboriginal Australian genome reveals separate human dispersals into Asia, Science 334, 9498.Google Scholar
Rast-Eicher, A. (2014) Speciality fibres for special textiles, in A Stitch in Time: Essays in Honour of Lise Bender Jørgensen (GOTARC Series A 4), ed. Bergerbrant, S. and Fossøy, S. H., Gothenburg, 4362.Google Scholar
Rast-Eicher, A. and Jørgensen, Bender L. (2013) Sheep wool in Bronze and Iron Age Europe, Journal of Archaeological Science 40, 12241241.Google Scholar
Renaud, G., Slon, V., Duggan, A. T. and Kelso, J. (2015) Schmutzi: estimation of contamination and endogenous mitochondrial consensus calling for ancient DNA, Genome Biology 16, 224.Google Scholar
Ringgaard, M. (2010) To par strixstrømper oc en nattrøie naccarat. Tekst, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Rostholm, H. (2009) Herning Museums arkæologiske virksomhed, Herning Museum, Midtjyske fortællinger 2009, 2736.Google Scholar
Ryder, M. L. (1969) Changes in the fleece of sheep following domestication, in The Domestication and Exploitation of Plants and Animals, ed. Ucko, P. J. and Dimbleby, G. W., London, 495521.Google Scholar
Ryder, M. L. (1983a) A re-assessment of Bronze Age wool, Journal of Archaeological Science 10, 327331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryder, M. L. (1983b) Sheep and Man, London.Google Scholar
Sabatini, S., Bergerbrant, S., Brandt, L.Ø., Margaryan, A. and Allentoft, M. E. (2019) Approaching sheep herds origins and the emergence of the wool economy in continental Europe during the Bronze Age, Archaeological and Anthopological Sciences, 11 (9), 4909–4925.Google Scholar
Sinding, M.-H. S., Arneborg, J., Nyegaard, G. and Gilbert, M. T. P. (2015) Ancient DNA unravels the truth behind the controversial GUS Greenlandic Norse fur samples: the bison was a horse, and the muskox and bears were goats, Journal of Archaeological Science 53, 297303.Google Scholar
Sinding, M.-H. S., Vieira, F. G. and Smith, M. H. (2017) Unmatched DNA preservation proves arctic hare and sheep wool in Norse Greenlandic textile from ‘The Farm Beneath the Sand’, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 14, 603608.Google Scholar
Smith, C. I., Chamberlain, A. T., Riley, M. S., Cooper, A., Stringer, C. B. and Collins, M. J. (2001) Neanderthal DNA: not just old but old and cold? Nature 410, 771772.Google Scholar
Tapio, M., Marzanov, N., Ozerov, M., Cinkulov, M., Gonzarenko, G., Kiselyova, T. et al. (2006) Sheep mitochondrial DNA variation in European, Caucasian, and central Asian areas, Molecular Biology and Evolution 23, 17761783.Google Scholar
Tapio, M., Ozerov, M., Tapio, I., Toro, M. A., Marzanov, N., Cinkulov, M. et al. (2010) Microsatellite-based genetic diversity and population structure of domestic sheep in northern Eurasia, BMC Genetics 11, 76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Teasdale, M. D., van Doorn, N. L., Fiddyment, S., Webb, C. C., O’Connor, T., Hofreiter, M. et al. (2015) Paging through history: parchment as a reservoir of ancient DNA for next generation sequencing, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 370, 20130379.Google Scholar
Teerink, B. J. (1991) Hair of West European Mammals, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Vanden Berghe, I., Gleba, M. and Mannering, U. (2009) Towards the identification of dyestuffs in Early Iron Age Scandinavian peat bog textiles, Journal of Archaeological Science 36, 19101921.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van der Sanden, W. (1996) Udødeliggjorte i mosen: Historien om de nordvesteuropæiske moselig, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Walton, P. (1988) Dyes and wools in Iron Age textiles from Norway and Denmark, Journal of Danish Archaeology 7, 144158.Google Scholar
Walton Rogers, P. (2007) Cloth and Clothing in Early Anglo-Saxon England, ad 450–700, York.Google Scholar
Wildman, A. B. (1954) The Microscopy of Animal Textile Fibres, Leeds.Google Scholar
Willerslev, E. and Cooper, A. (2005) Ancient DNA, Proceedings of the Royal Society B 272, 316.Google Scholar
Wilson, A. S. and Gilbert, M. T. P. (2007) Hair and nail, in Forensic Human Identification: an Introduction, ed. Thompson, T., Boca Raton, FL, 147174.Google Scholar
Wincott Heckett, E. (2012) Scotland and Ireland, in Textiles and Textile Production in Europe (Anciente Textiles Series 11), ed. Gleba, M. and Mannering, U., Oxford, 124.Google Scholar
Wood, N. J. and Phua, S. H. (1996) Variation in the control region sequence of the sheep mitochondrial genome, Animal Genetics 27, 2533.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zeng, X.-C., Chen, H.-Y., Jia, B., Zhao, Z.-S., Hui, W.-Q., Wang, Z.-B. and Du, Y.-C. (2011) Identification of SNPs within the sheep PROP1 gene and their effects on wool traits, Molecular Biology Reports 38, 27232728.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×